The Aspiring Polymath's Society discussion

Hi,

My name is Rick. I'm looking to meet like-minded people. Write back!

It seems that this group is dead.

Yeah, it seems so.

Hello everyone,
It would be helpful to know what each one of us are doing or are interested in ...

Well, I'm currently working at the University of Texas at Austin in a managerial/administrative capacity, but with aspirations of one day making a living as an academic/scholar. Interests are dangerously wide and varied, but I enjoy history, philosophy, etc, and a specific interest in the motivations and impact mass media has on our culture and individuals.

Hello again, I am third year undergraduate student majoring in Computer Science. My current academic interest lies in Machine Learning.

I love science and engineering. Got a hang for books the past year when I found goodreads through one of my friends; devouring books since then. Playing basketball is an escape.

Joined this group to meet like-minded and 'better' minded people. I have learned more in my college-life from seniors than books, profs or colleagues.

Paul Erdos: "Here I am; My brain is open".

Pleasure to meet you. I also love books AND basketball, so we got that in common. lol. And I feel you on the motivation for being in a group like this: better minds allow us to sharpen our own views.

Nice to meet you too !

Allow me to start by asking, which book has influenced you the most? (or maybe which 5)

The Autobiography of Malcolm X, Media Control (Noam Chomsky), Alice in Wonderland, Lolita, and the Lost Years of Jesus Revealed.

And you?

Hi guys, I’m a PhD student in food science in New York. My background is in Chemistry. I read widely, and am interested in literature, history, food essays, biography, etc. Hard to pare down my list of favorite books, but some that come to mind are Melville’s “Moby Dick”, Plato’s “The Republic”, Watson’s “Ideas: A History of Thought”, Jack Gilbert’s “Refusing Heaven” (poetry), and Anderson’s “Winesburg, Ohio”.

And Baudelaire’s Paris Blues.

Cool. Thank you.

And when you say food essays, can you give an example of what that would be like? I'm assuming it's not a review of a restaurant or particular dish but more of what someone like Michael Pollan does, right?

a.The Last Lecture b.Surely you're joking, Mr. Feynman! c.The book theif d.The autobiography of Benjamin Franklin e.The Kite runner
These are the books I enjoyed the most uptill now :)

Hello @Arkskier !

Hi Eric and Abhinaba! Where are you guys from? I liked that book about Erdos, too, “My brain is open”. Eric, yea something like Pollan (whose talk I was able to attend when he visited my campus). I would include in this list MFK Fisher, Harold McGee, Anthony Bourdain, Brillat-Savarin, and my favorite, Joseph Weschberg.

Nice!

I currently live in Austin but I consider my hometown to be San Antonio. Also spent some of my childhood in Southern California, born in Orange County.

And it's Erick, with a "c" and a "k" at the end. 😊

Hi peeps! I am Renu, an undergrad maths student looking forward to do a PhD in algebraic topology! And I am from India, the whole of it (my dad was in Indian Navy and so we shifted to a new place every 3 years!)

I am re-reading Contact by Carl Sagan these days; its one of my favourites.

Welcome, Renu! (and I have that same book on my shelf)

Hi Renu! Where do you study?

What 'are' your current interests in mathematics? And what are the trendy topics in maths nowadays?

Hi guys, my name is Francesco, glad that the discussion had a spark. I'm from'Italy but currently studying Engineering in Switzerland I'm also working at the University at the System Design Chairs, working in the field of quantitative social sciences, notably Agent Based Modelling of Social Systems . Some books I'm currently reading include "Gödel, Escher, Bach", "Understanding Power" and "Human, all to Human". In general I red more or less everything, especially the great classics such as Dostoevsky or Sartre, some non-fiction, some easier (for now) Philosophy and, when I have time, also some science-fiction. Some books that had a great influence on me ? "Memoirs of Hadrian", "Lolita", "Notes from Underground" and "The Leopard".

Ducci, the leopard is also one of my absolute favorites! What other books do you like?

Rent, welcome. Are there any Indian books you can recommend? Have you read about Ramanajun?

I meant Renu. Sorry spellcheck. Apologies to Erick too.

Hi Arkskier, feel free to call me Francesco, rather than Ducci ; the latter is my family name :)

Anyway, yes I absolutely loved the Leopard. Especially if you're southern Italian, as I am, the actuality of the book is disconcerting. The author really does an exceptional work in combining a still relevant social critique, with an timeless description of human emotions.

Other than that, I guess you could see in my ratings which book I loved :)

What about you, what books do you feel influenced you the most ?

Looks like my comments and this group is alive. As this group says, I learn for learning sake.

@Abi: Everyone is doing ML.

@Renu: I am beginning to like Mathematics through the lens of Philosophy.

@Rick: That's great! Good luck with the endeavor.

@Arkskier: Yeah, I have know and have read about Ramanujam. When you say Indian books, what do you exactly mean-- books by Indian authors, books on India, books on Indian mathematics or any other combination?

@Abhinaba: I am a math undergrad at IIT Kanpur. I am learning more about topology of fibre bundles of a topological space. Its basically a generalization of vector bundles over a vector space. Well, homotopy theory is one of the topics which has influenced a lot of new results in mathematics. Also, after Perelman solved the Poincare Conjecture, a lot of research is put in to crack Riemann Hypothesis.

@Erick: Thank you! I hope you liked the book.

Renu, yea by indian I mean either written by an indian or written about India or Indian mathematics. Any recommendations?

Francesco, I just assumed that the leopard was about a feeling in the past. I didn’t know it is still a current critique? Any Italian books you can recommend?

@Arskier, there definitely is some dose of social critique in that book, although under a veil of melancholy and that critique, unfortunately, is very valid also still today. If you enjoyed the Leopard you may definitely try "I Viceré" from Federico de Roberto "I malavoglia" from Giuseppe Verga.

@Franceso: It seems that you were reading Ryan's book. STOIC is popular 😅

I don't want this Group to die!

@Rick, yeah that's definitely a very interesting book ! I hope to use it as a bridge for more deep lectures, such as Marcus Aurelius and Seneca. Did you also read it yourself ?

Concerning the group, I guess as of now it feels a bit pointless ? There is not much activity, but in order to make people be more present there should actually be something to do ...

Perhaps, what about an online book club ? We could organize in a group, pick a book, red one chapter per week and discuss it and give our thought on the forum ?

@Francesco: Thanks for responding: Yes, I have read Aurelius. I think around 5 years ago: As I was dabbling in metaphysical meaninglessness, Stoicism gave me something to hold my life. However -- I found that it was all about me and focused on myself. Aurelius is extremely popular.

That is a good idea. As a Polymath group, we could talk about different books and earlier Polymaths.

How does that sound? Maybe we can have a format.

@Rick what is professional focus as of now? (or, if i want to learn something, to start with, from you what would that be ?)

*is your

Yeah, maybe start off simple with a book discussion.

@Abhinaba: Computer Scientist.

@Erick: Book discussion about the book we read?

Let's start with a book then.
For now, four people are active (@Francesco, @Rick, @Erick, me). How about picking up on a common genre between us, read it, discuss it and then attack newer ones?

Sounds good.

Common Genre? That's hard -- Perhaps, you can read the genre that you are interested. After you read it, you can share about it. We would ask questions from the book due to our curiosity.

From your readings/understanding -- I can learn/understand, rather than reading the same book [Renu, Eric, Abhinaba, Francesco].

Now -- you could argue that we would have four different perspectives on the same book (or) idea.

But I don't think we four would have the same book in common.

For a Polymath, one has to branch out to many different slices of human knowledge. Next, master them and create a new form of knowledge. Look into reading habits of Benjamin Franklin, Alexander Graham Bell, Da Vinci, Leon Alberti.

@all: Thoughts, comments?

Sorry guys, I've been very busy lately with exams and work ; hopefully I'l be more free in September but, as of now, I am on hold.

Ah! This thread has died! Oh no, Why?

Well, I can't speak for the others but I've been busy. Preparing for a trip to Washington D.C. on the 11th and I'm trying to read as much Founding Father/American history as I can before I go. lol

Let's grab a coffee or something? I live close to D.C.

@Renu: Disappeared :( I wanted to get my feet in mathematics. You were the only person I came across.

That sounds great, Rick! Let's do that.

@Renu: Absconded 🤣